Old Wine in New Bottle? -Liberians Weigh in On Merits, Demerits of 2025 National Budget

MONROVIA – The world over, formulation of national budgets entails the allocation of resources through a system of control and organization of the operation of public finances, by means of representative politics, which form the basis of the democratic process. The budget then is the singular most important law intended to transform the development aspirations of a government into reality. Against this backdrop, The Analyst attempts to provide a cursory outlook of the current draft budget for fiscal year January 1 to December 31, 2025, through the lenses of the people, with the view of establishing whether this budget intends to rescue Liberians in accordance with the new administration’s development agenda.

Where the budget stands

Explaining details of the draft budget to the Liberian people immediately upon its submission to the Legislature this week, Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Ngafuan indicated that the total revenue envelope of the Draft National Budget for FY2025 is projected at US$851.8 million, comprising Core Revenue of US$833 million or 97.8% and Contingent Revenue of 18.8 million or 2.2%.

Of this amount, Domestic Revenue constitutes US$791.76 million or 93 percent of the total envelope. This includes Tax Revenue of US$633.72 million or 80 percent of domestic revenue, Non-Tax Revenue of US$138.5 million or 17.4 percent.

“External resources amount to US$60 million, or 7.0 percent of the total revenue envelope, to be sourced from the World Bank (US$40 million) and the European Union (US$20 million). This represents a 50 percent increase in external resources from FY2024,” Minister Ngafuan had stated.

Ngafuan’s statement comes against the backdrop of a November 18, 2024 letter from the presidency addressed to the Presiding Officer of the Honorable House of Representative, detailing expenditure of the revenue envelop, of which President Joseph Nyuma Boaka said seventy percent or US$598 million of the total proposed budget is allocated for recurrent expenditure; 12 percent, or US$102.8 million for asset accumulation, including almost US$98 million for Public Sector Investment Plan (PSIP); and 16 percent, or US$137 million for public debt service, and 2.2 percent or US$18.8 for Contingent Expenditure.

Public Feedback, Backlash

Against the backdrop of the ongoing legislative power standoff which has affected concurrence and implementation of the 2025 national budget, Liberians have already begun to dissect the draft budget, amidst huge public consternation that the current draft budget is not a deviation from the old order and will not lift the citizenry them from their current lethargic state.

“This is not fair, Mr. President – The country is dirt poor but five of you are receiving over US$10.6 million in 12 months. Straight up,” said James T. Mason, a University of Liberia student. “This is not fair. The national cake (2025 Budget) is not being equitably distributed. The imbalances are crystal clear as millions of our people struggle to survive. We expected something better than this in Year 2.

“The Draft National Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 has 556 pages. The Liberian people can be assured that we will x-ray every page to protect their interests. Let’s begin with what we usually term as The Big Five or The Five Highest Offices.”

Mason said further. “Here is that I mean: The big five is above US$10.6 million again amid heightened unemployment, poverty, food insecurity, aid dependency, health and education crises in Liberia. Where is public interest? When will this change? This is what they have in just 12 months for FY2025: Boakai (US$3,442,406), Koung (US$3,759,152), Koffa (US$1,755,553), Nyonblee (US$1,024,136), and Fallah (US$645,817). The total for these 5 offices is US$10,627,064. Let’s break this down for everyone to understand it,” lambasts Martin K.N. Kollie, a self-exiled activist and a once proud supporter of the Rescue Mission.”

Justifying his assertion of budgetary anomaly under the Boakai administration, Kollie said the 12-month budget of President Joseph Boakai’s office for FY2025 is up from US$1.9 million to US$3.4 million, which accounts for a 43% increment or a US$1.5 million increase.

“The annual budget of Vice President Jeremiah Koung for FY2025 rarely changed. It was US$3.7 million in 2024. It is US$3.7 million in 2025. The budget of Speaker J. Fonati Koffa for FY2025 is up from US$1.5 million to US$1.7 million. This increment accounts for 12% or US$211K. The budget of Senate Pro-Temp Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence for FY2025 is down from US$1.4 million to US$1.02 million. This reduction accounts for 27.9% or US$395K. The budget of Deputy Speaker Thomas Fallah for FY2025 is down from US$1.2 million to US$645,817 constituting a reduction of 49.8% or US$640K. The likelihood of these numbers going up before this draft budget can be passed is high,” he alarmed, crying, “the waste is too much.

“We have to cut down on public waste. It is this waste that’s driving disparity and inequality in Liberia. It has to change. We have to get our acts together. We have to do it differently. The people were promised to be “RESCUED”.  Public service is about PEOPLE and not PROFIT,” Martin said, while calling on President Boakai to cut down on public waste (recurrent expenses) and divert or invest savings to/in capital projects/PPSI to empower and improve millions of lives. 

Other Liberians have been equally vocal about what they see as another “business as usual” attempt on the part of the government to keep the people in poverty while the higher ups in leadership continue to enrich themselves.

“In this day and age, why should a lawmaker make more US$15,000 monthly for doing absolutely nothing? We elected those people to represent us, but they are only interested in making fabulous salaries while we continue to suffer. As for Joe Boakai, we never expected this from him. We voted for change, not business as usual,” a concerned Liberian from Gardnersville said.

“For a long time, our budget has focused on paying salaries, neglecting the private sector, because the government is the largest employer. This government needs to expand the private sector through investments into the sector,” said another concerned Liberia from the Diaspora.

“America is the greatest country on earth with the largest economy. But they don’t give anybody gas slips, they don’t buy them vehicles. We are a developing country. We have nothing. We are the least in everything. Why should we pay someone more than US$3,000 in a dirt-poor country? It baffles the mind. We need to shift our development priorities, like using 30% of the budget on recurrent cost and the rest to develop the livelihood of the people,” one irate Liberian lamented.

“This budget is no different from the last budget of the past government where they focused more on paying salaries, buying scratch cards, vehicles and fuels, than providing funds to education, health and other important sectors. The big boys are still getting $5,000 monthly, while they are talking about increasing base salaries to $150. What can $150 do for a family in this hard economy?” another concerned Liberian wondered.

Whatever the case, Liberians are getting prepared to carefully scrutinize the final copy of the draft national budget that is now before the House for ratification.